224 
SWIMMERS. 
associated with flocks of the Great Tern. The particular 
places of resort for the present species, according to Dr. 
M’Dougal, are two small, flat, and rocky islands in the Firth 
of Clyde called Cumbrae Islands, chiefly about Milford Bay, 
On these islands the Common Tern swarms to such a degree 
that it was scarcely possible to step without treading upon the 
young birds or eggs. The new species here described was shot 
by accident, without its being distinguished until it lay dead 
upon the ground, when the Doctor’s attention was attracted by 
the beautiful pale roseate hue of the breast. There did not 
here appear to be more than about one in two hundred of the 
present with the Common Tern ; but they were at length easily 
singled out by the comparative shortness of their wings, white- 
ness of their plumage, and by the elegance and slowness of 
their aerial motion, often sweeping along or resting in the air 
almost immovable, like the soaring of a Hawk ; and they 
were also distinguishable by the comparative inferiority of 
their size. 
In the United States these birds are sparingly seen with the 
Common Tern, as I have obtained an individual on the coast 
at Chelsea Beach ; and they may breed on the neighboring isle 
of Egg Rock or in similar places in the temperate parts of the 
Union. 
This beautifully tinted and graceful bird is of rather southern 
habitat, only a small number breeding northward of southern Mas- 
sachusetts on this side of the Atlantic, though a few examples 
have wandered along the coast as far as the Bay of Fundy, It is 
almost exclusively a bird of the open ocean, seldom even frequent- 
ing the salt-lagoons ; but several have been captured on the Great 
Lakes. Large numbers once gathered at Muskegat Island, one of 
the Nantucket group; but of late years they have shared the fate of 
all their kindred and been slaughtered by milliners’ assistants that 
their wings might adorn my lady’s hat, until now very few remain. 
Says William Brewster, writing of Muskegat : “ Were it not for 
man, — who, alas ! must be ranked as the greatest of all destroyers, 
— the Terns would here find an asylum sufficiently secure from all 
foes.” He graphically tells of the shooting of hundreds of the birds 
by yachting parties, “either in wanton sport or for their wings, 
which are presented to fair companions ; ” and adds ; “ Then the 
